Centre urges all states and UTs to ramp up corona testing

Only a week after expanding the conditions that do not require COVID-19 tests, the government announced on Tuesday that the number of coronavirus tests in the country had dropped and that more needed to be done. The centre has asked numerous states and union territories to increase testing in order to keep an effective track on the epidemic and take appropriate action.

Additional Secretary in the Union Health Ministry Arti Ahuja encouraged states and union territories to pay quick attention to this aspect and strategically boost testing in light of the pattern of case positive in specific locations in a letter to them.

She stated that Omicron, which has been classified as a variant of concern by the World Health Organization (WHO), is currently spreading fast. “However, data on the ICMR portal reveals that testing has decreased in numerous states and union territories.” She stated that the underlying goal of all testing guidelines issued by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), including the most recent on January 10, is early diagnosis of cases for prompt isolation and care.

Furthermore, testing remains a critical technique for pandemic management since it aids in the discovery of new clusters and hotspots of infection, allowing for urgent containment actions such as setting up containment zones, contact tracing, quarantining, isolation, and follow-up.

“Progression of disease to a severe category can be averted by strategic testing of those who are at high risk and more vulnerable, as well as in areas where the spread is likely to be higher. All those who are symptomatic must be tested and all at-risk contacts of laboratory-confirmed cases must also be tested,” she said

So far, 3.76 crore coronavirus cases have been reported in India, with 4.86 lakh deaths. On Tuesday, 2.38 lakh new infections were recorded in the country, with a 14.43 percent positivity rate.